If Detroit native and former Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer does, in fact, pay $2 billion for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association, professional sports teams across North America could be worth more when they come on the market.

The first franchise to test the "rising tide lifts all ships" theory could be the National Football League's Buffalo Bills. Grosse Pointe Shores businessman Ralph Wilson paid $25,000 to launch the Bills in 1960; he died in March at age 95.

"The Clippers sale impacts the profile for clubs such as the Lakers, Knicks, Nets and Bulls, but will also raise sale value for small-to-mid-market clubs, just not at such an exponential rate," said Maury Brown, president of the Portland, Ore.-based Business of Sports Network.

The Clippers sale price would be $1.675 billion more than the $325 million Tom Gores paid for the Detroit Pistons in 2011.

Ballmer, 58, CEO at Microsoft from 2000 until this year, is said by Forbes to be worth an estimated $20 billion.